Rerum Novarum (Latin: “Of New Things”) is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 that addressed the social and economic problems caused by the Industrial Revolution for workers and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social teaching.
To the extent that Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas is modeled on Rerum Novarum, we might also apply some of the same observations which can be made about the earlier document.
An argument can be made that the encyclical focused on people in their role as workers, not in their role as consumers, arguably an issue that remains relevant today whenever policymakers talk about what is “good for working people.”
People occupy multiple economic roles simultaneously:
Workers (selling labor)
Consumers (buying goods and services)
Producers/owners (running businesses or owning capital)
Citizens/community members (experiencing social and environmental effects).
The Industrial Revolution affected each role differently, often creating losses in one dimension while generating gains in another. By extension, the same will probably be true for the concerns of Magnifica Humanitas.
The Industrial Revolution created enormous increases in productivity, which led to:
Lower prices for goods
Greater product availability
Rising real incomes over time
Improved transportation and communication
Longer life expectancy (eventually)
Better housing, nutrition, and health outcomes (over the long run).
But as often happens, losses are concentrated and obvious while benefits are diffuse and hard to measure.
Losses were concentrated among some worker segments, such as weavers, blacksmiths, coach drivers or other craftsmen whose jobs were automated.
But the same people often benefited as well.
Consumer Benefit | Examples |
Lower prices | Clothing, household goods, food transport |
Greater variety | Previously unavailable products |
Better quality | Standardized manufactured goods |
Improved access | Railroads connected markets |
Rising purchasing power | Real wages eventually increased |
What was bad for some textile workers as producers often became beneficial for nearly everyone as consumers, a recurring pattern in economic change: losses are concentrated; gains are widespread and diffuse.
The losers know exactly who they are. The beneficiaries are nearly everyone.
Even if long-run outcomes were positive, some occupations and generations bore significant transitional costs.
Industrial regions often prospered while other regions declined, with the negative effects you would expect on particular communities.
Consider the Industrial Revolution as creating two simultaneous realities:
Role | Typical Effect |
Worker in disrupted industry | Often negative |
Consumer | Usually positive |
Entrepreneur | Often strongly positive |
Society as a whole | Strongly positive over the long run |
A handloom weaver in 1810 might be worse off as a producer but better off as a consumer. His or her children or grandchildren might eventually be substantially better off in both roles.
This framework will almost certainly be true of AI as well.
The question is not simply whether AI helps or hurts "workers." People are simultaneously:
Workers whose tasks may be automated or augmented
Consumers who may receive cheaper and better services
Investors whose retirement savings may benefit from productivity growth
Citizens affected by broader economic changes.
The historical evidence supports the proposition that Industrial Revolution benefits ultimately became widespread and enormous, while many of the costs were concentrated among particular occupations, regions, and generations. The caveat is that for those who bore the costs, the losses were often severe, immediate, and personally significant even when society as a whole became much richer.
Magnifica Humanitas follows a similar pattern to Rerum Novarum. The warnings are stark; there is danger of dehumanization. The document does not address the almost-certain advantages and upside, anymore than did Rerum Novarum.
As a moral argument about preserving human dignity and values, Rerum Novarum “succeeded.” But people are workers and consumers; creators or products as well as those who use them.
The document did not address those aspects, being concerned solely with the impact of industrial production on people as workers.
Magnifica Humanitas follows the same pattern, warning about dehumanizing AI impacts. The document does not attempt to assess the broad AI impact that might also be socially quite positive.
The use of the term “tower of Babel” (Genesis 11:1–9) provides some insight to the framing. In Catholic theology, the passage is a warning about human pride and disregard for human dependence on God.
So as with Rerum Novarum, Magnifica Humanitas seeks to guide action in terms of stewardship of technology to serve human ends and dignity.
It is not a comprehensive statement about AI’s overall impact.
